Appalachian Smoke has a unique new song for their latest single, one called Guitar Song, written by mandolinist and bandleader BJ Taylor.
Taylor’s composition gives the story over to be told by a guitar, sharing the music its played, the many people who’ve held it, and the many lives it’s touched. Guitar Song isn’t the first such in bluegrass, thinking of Lefty’s Old Guitar which was recorded by J.D. Crowe & The New South in 2006, but it does take a different tack, with the tale of a more run-of-the-mill instrument played by unnamed musicians.
Cooper Marona takes the lead vocal here, supported by Taylor on mandolin, Mikel Laws on guitar, Kenneth Rymer on reso-guitar, and Aaron Ramsey on bass. Ramsey also engineered, mixed, and mastered the track at Mountain Fever Studios in Virginia.
We don’t get a ton of anthropomorphizing in bluegrass, so savor this one.
Guitar Song is available now from Mountain Fever Records at popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
